Q&A with Wendy Mills
Tell us a little about Positively Beautiful and what inspired the book?
I wanted to know how a girl, just an ordinary girl, would deal with the news that she could be carrying the BRCA gene mutation, which can confer up to an 80% lifetime risk of breast cancer. How would it affect her life, her choices, her dreams for the future? Because though the news of a genetic mutation would be devastating, there are still parties to go to, school to survive, boys to fall for. In Positively Beautiful, I wanted to explore how that knowledge would affect the way she lives her life.
Where did you get the idea for Positively Beautiful?
I read an article about a woman with the BRCA gene mutation who was agonizing about how to tell her teenage daughters, and I immediately knew that this was the story I wanted to tell, from the daughter’s point of view. When you have a genetic test done as a parent, you don’t think about how the results will affect your children. But they do.
What drew you to the subject of genetic testing?
Genetic testing does not occur in a vacuum; it does not just affect the person being tested, but has far-reaching ramifications for their relatives as well. With courageous women like Angelina Pitt openly talking about the BRCA mutation and her decision to undergo prophylactic surgery, more and more people are becoming aware of the role genes play in our health. As genetic testing becomes more common, it is inevitable that there will be serious implications for family members, including children, who will learn about their genetic propensities whether or not they wish to.
As a new voice in this genre, what do you think you bring to the table that refreshing for readers?
I enjoy writing stories about how individuals react in extraordinary circumstances. It’s only when we are under pressure that you see the true colors of a person, and sometimes it’s beautiful, and sometimes it’s not, but it’s always uniquely human.
Can you tell us a little about your characters in Positively Beautiful? How did you develop them and the rest of the main characters? Were you inspired by people from real life, or are they from your imagination?
As the story begins, Erin is sixteen and bit of a geek, but oh so funny! Her sarcasm and humor become her saving grace as things start to go wrong in her life. Her father was a pilot before he died when Erin was young, and she decides to take flying lessons as a way to become closer to him, and also to escape the problems that are piling up on her. She has a wonderful relationship with her single mom, and one of my favorite parts of the story is how they interact. Erin’s best friend is crazy-girl Trina. They’ve been friends since Erin was six and Trina is determined to draw Erin out of her shell.
Do you have a message throughout this book? If so, what is it and why?
Every writer wants their readers to take something away from their book, but it’s a fine line between having a message and being on a soap box. Positively Beautiful is about how to learn to live life in joy and not despair. Erin is a teenage girl, and finding out her mother has cancer and that she may herself may carry the BRCA mutation is hard, but she still has a life to live, flying lessons to take, boys to kiss!
Do you have a favorite author? And what have you learned from their work?
A book that I read recently that really affected me was Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun. So good! As an author, this book taught me to be brave in my writing, and to not be afraid of taking chances. I’m clinging to this lesson with all my might as I finish up my second young adult book, which is the hardest, most challenging story I’ve ever written.
How did you start writing?
When I was about twelve, peer-pressure interfered with my fantasy world. The other kids were starting to laugh at me, so I reluctantly gave up “pretending” the stories that ran rampant through my head. At that time in my life, I cared a little more about what people thought about me! Frustrated for about a minute, I turned to writing those same stories on an old typewriter I found in the attic. I still remember the clacking of the keys and the satisfying ringing sound it made as I started a new line. I wrote my first book when I was twelve, a thirty-page effort called Visitors from Meana, about aliens in the form of flying horses and two siblings who have to decide whether they will stay on earth or travel with their new friends to Meana. It was great, it was awful, I was twelve years old. But when I shared it with my and saw their reactions (they were twelve, too), I realized this is what I wanted to do..
Do you have another book on the cutting board so to speak already? If so, what’s the working title, tell us a little about it and when can people expect it?
My next young adult book is tentatively titled All We Have Left, due out Spring 2016. It’s also a contemporary young adult, but that is about all it shares in common with Positively Beautiful. It’s set simultaneously in the present and in 2001, during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and it is the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to write. And Positively Beautiful was no walk in the park!
Tell us a little about Positively Beautiful and what inspired the book?
I wanted to know how a girl, just an ordinary girl, would deal with the news that she could be carrying the BRCA gene mutation, which can confer up to an 80% lifetime risk of breast cancer. How would it affect her life, her choices, her dreams for the future? Because though the news of a genetic mutation would be devastating, there are still parties to go to, school to survive, boys to fall for. In Positively Beautiful, I wanted to explore how that knowledge would affect the way she lives her life.
Where did you get the idea for Positively Beautiful?
I read an article about a woman with the BRCA gene mutation who was agonizing about how to tell her teenage daughters, and I immediately knew that this was the story I wanted to tell, from the daughter’s point of view. When you have a genetic test done as a parent, you don’t think about how the results will affect your children. But they do.
What drew you to the subject of genetic testing?
Genetic testing does not occur in a vacuum; it does not just affect the person being tested, but has far-reaching ramifications for their relatives as well. With courageous women like Angelina Pitt openly talking about the BRCA mutation and her decision to undergo prophylactic surgery, more and more people are becoming aware of the role genes play in our health. As genetic testing becomes more common, it is inevitable that there will be serious implications for family members, including children, who will learn about their genetic propensities whether or not they wish to.
As a new voice in this genre, what do you think you bring to the table that refreshing for readers?
I enjoy writing stories about how individuals react in extraordinary circumstances. It’s only when we are under pressure that you see the true colors of a person, and sometimes it’s beautiful, and sometimes it’s not, but it’s always uniquely human.
Can you tell us a little about your characters in Positively Beautiful? How did you develop them and the rest of the main characters? Were you inspired by people from real life, or are they from your imagination?
As the story begins, Erin is sixteen and bit of a geek, but oh so funny! Her sarcasm and humor become her saving grace as things start to go wrong in her life. Her father was a pilot before he died when Erin was young, and she decides to take flying lessons as a way to become closer to him, and also to escape the problems that are piling up on her. She has a wonderful relationship with her single mom, and one of my favorite parts of the story is how they interact. Erin’s best friend is crazy-girl Trina. They’ve been friends since Erin was six and Trina is determined to draw Erin out of her shell.
Do you have a message throughout this book? If so, what is it and why?
Every writer wants their readers to take something away from their book, but it’s a fine line between having a message and being on a soap box. Positively Beautiful is about how to learn to live life in joy and not despair. Erin is a teenage girl, and finding out her mother has cancer and that she may herself may carry the BRCA mutation is hard, but she still has a life to live, flying lessons to take, boys to kiss!
Do you have a favorite author? And what have you learned from their work?
A book that I read recently that really affected me was Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give You The Sun. So good! As an author, this book taught me to be brave in my writing, and to not be afraid of taking chances. I’m clinging to this lesson with all my might as I finish up my second young adult book, which is the hardest, most challenging story I’ve ever written.
How did you start writing?
When I was about twelve, peer-pressure interfered with my fantasy world. The other kids were starting to laugh at me, so I reluctantly gave up “pretending” the stories that ran rampant through my head. At that time in my life, I cared a little more about what people thought about me! Frustrated for about a minute, I turned to writing those same stories on an old typewriter I found in the attic. I still remember the clacking of the keys and the satisfying ringing sound it made as I started a new line. I wrote my first book when I was twelve, a thirty-page effort called Visitors from Meana, about aliens in the form of flying horses and two siblings who have to decide whether they will stay on earth or travel with their new friends to Meana. It was great, it was awful, I was twelve years old. But when I shared it with my and saw their reactions (they were twelve, too), I realized this is what I wanted to do..
Do you have another book on the cutting board so to speak already? If so, what’s the working title, tell us a little about it and when can people expect it?
My next young adult book is tentatively titled All We Have Left, due out Spring 2016. It’s also a contemporary young adult, but that is about all it shares in common with Positively Beautiful. It’s set simultaneously in the present and in 2001, during the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Center, and it is the most difficult thing I’ve ever tried to write. And Positively Beautiful was no walk in the park!